Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and law, expertly written by the world’s leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. Extensively updated, this second edition of the Advanced Introduction to Social Policy provides a concise overview of the field that takes newer realities into account as well as taking insights from the traditional social policy canon. Daniel Béland and Rianne Mahon draw on both classic and contemporary theories to illuminate the broad processes that are putting pressure on existing social policy arrangements and raising new research questions. Key Features: Assesses the social policy implications of changing gender relations and the increasing salience of ethnic diversity Focuses on both the advanced industrial world and the growing significance of the Global South as a site of social policy innovation Provides a global perspective on social policy that features systematic attention to transnational actors, moving beyond the methodological nationalism that has traditionally marked the field Presenting a lucid and up-to-date overview of comparative and global social policy, this thoroughly revised second edition will prove vital to researchers, university students, and university instructors of social policy, political science, sociology, public policy, and social work.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and law, expertly written by the world’s leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. Extensively updated, this second edition of the Advanced Introduction to Social Policy provides a concise overview of the field that takes newer realities into account as well as taking insights from the traditional social policy canon. Daniel Béland and Rianne Mahon draw on both classic and contemporary theories to illuminate the broad processes that are putting pressure on existing social policy arrangements and raising new research questions. Key Features: Assesses the social policy implications of changing gender relations and the increasing salience of ethnic diversity Focuses on both the advanced industrial world and the growing significance of the Global South as a site of social policy innovation Provides a global perspective on social policy that features systematic attention to transnational actors, moving beyond the methodological nationalism that has traditionally marked the field Presenting a lucid and up-to-date overview of comparative and global social policy, this thoroughly revised second edition will prove vital to researchers, university students, and university instructors of social policy, political science, sociology, public policy, and social work.

This book draws on the expertise of faculty and colleagues at the Balsillie School of International Affairs to both locate the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a contribution to the development of global government and to examine the political-institutional and financial challenges posed by the SDGs. The contributors are experts in global governance issues in a broad variety of fields ranging from health, food systems, social policy, migration and climate change. An introductory chapter sets out the broad context of the governance challenges involved, and how individual chapters contribute to the analysis. The book begins by focusing on individual SDGs, examining briefly the background to the particular goal and evaluating the opportunities and challenges (particularly governance challenges) in achieving the goal, as well as discussing how this goal relates to other SDGs. The book goes on to address the broader issues of achieving the set of goals overall, examining the novel financing mechanisms required for an enterprise of this nature, the trade-offs involved (particularly between the urgent climate agenda and the social/economic goals), the institutional arrangements designed to enable the achievement of the goals and offering a critical perspective on the enterprise as a whole. Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals makes a distinctive contribution by covering a broad range of individual goals with contributions from experts on governance in the global climate, social and economic areas as well as providing assessments of the overall project - its financial feasibility, institutional requisites, and its failures to tackle certain problems at the core. This book will be of great interest to scholars and students of international affairs, development studies and sustainable development, as well as those engaged in policymaking nationally, internationally and those working in NGOs.

This book draws on the expertise of faculty and colleagues at the Balsillie School of International Affairs to both locate the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a contribution to the development of global government and to examine the political-institutional and financial challenges posed by the SDGs. The contributors are experts in global governance issues in a broad variety of fields ranging from health, food systems, social policy, migration and climate change. An introductory chapter sets out the broad context of the governance challenges involved, and how individual chapters contribute to the analysis. The book begins by focusing on individual SDGs, examining briefly the background to the particular goal and evaluating the opportunities and challenges (particularly governance challenges) in achieving the goal, as well as discussing how this goal relates to other SDGs. The book goes on to address the broader issues of achieving the set of goals overall, examining the novel financing mechanisms required for an enterprise of this nature, the trade-offs involved (particularly between the urgent climate agenda and the social/economic goals), the institutional arrangements designed to enable the achievement of the goals and offering a critical perspective on the enterprise as a whole. Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals makes a distinctive contribution by covering a broad range of individual goals with contributions from experts on governance in the global climate, social and economic areas as well as providing assessments of the overall project - its financial feasibility, institutional requisites, and its failures to tackle certain problems at the core. This book will be of great interest to scholars and students of international affairs, development studies and sustainable development, as well as those engaged in policymaking nationally, internationally and those working in NGOs.

Whether childcare is seen as part of society's educational policy, welfare policy, or employment policy affects not only its form and content but also its public image. The contributors in this volume use current polices for the care of infants and preschool children to analyze debates and track the emergence of new state welfare practices across a variety of social and political configurations-and offer some conclusions about which methods work the best.

Contents:
Introduction Part I. The Consequences of Weak Feminism 1.Gender and Generation 2.The Value of an Educational Emphasis 3.Ideology, Economics and the Politics of Child Care in Poland Before and After the Transition Part II. The Power of Choice 4.Australia 5.The Illusion of Free Choice 6.Child Care Policy and the Crisis of the Welfare State in France Part III. The Impact of Neo-Liberalism 7."Modernization" and Welfare State Restructuring in Italy 8.Dual-Earner Families Caught in a Liberal Welfare regime? 9.Child Care in Britain 10.More Can be Less Part IV. Preserving/Creating Universalism 11.Danish Child Care 12.Alive and Fairly Well 13.Against the Current Afterward Contributors

As national borders become more permeable, women are increasingly travelling from poor to rich countries to take up jobs as care workers. The struggle to maintain a healthy work-care balance in Western nations is creating a care deficit in the developing world. This volume links ethics to the social politics of care by examining the implications of the feminization of migrant labour and the shortcomings of social policy. From Canada to Sweden and from Korea to Japan, renowned and emerging scholars reveal that a truly feminist ethics of care must be grounded in the concrete lives of real people working in transnational webs of social relations.

Caught in the trap of the nation-state and frozen in postwar bloc logic, critical political economy has been found wanting when it comes to problematizing space and scale. Globalization and the rise of world cities and regions have shaken the discipline's foundations and fostered new interest in the concept of scale. "Leviathan Undone?" brings together leading theorists and scholars from a variety of disciplines to develop a new language to understand the spatial restructuring that has accompanied globalization. By treating scale as the core concept of our time, these innovative, groundbreaking essays bring a new sensibility to classical and contemporary concerns in Canadian and international political economy.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is a much cited but little studied institution, and its role in international governance is poorly understood. Nevertheless, the OECD plays an important role in the emerging structure of global governance. Focusing upon the OECD's core functions, contributors to this volume trace the OECD's history, structure, and role in international governance as well as its function as a "policy ideas generator" and purveyor of "best practices" in a variety of economic and social policy domains.

As the boundaries between nations become more permeable, women are
increasingly on the move, travelling from poor countries to rich ones
to work as nannies, nurses, teachers, maids, and sex workers. The
struggle to maintain a healthy balance between work, family, and care
in Western nations is creating a care deficit in the developing
world.

Feminist Ethics and Social Policy links ethics to the
social politics of care by revealing the implications of the
feminization of migrant labour and the shortcomings of social policy at
the national level. Drawing on innovative theories of gender and race,
global justice and neocolonialism, and care and masculinity, renowned
and emerging scholars trace how recent policy developments are
transforming the lives of female care workers in Canada, Sweden, Korea,
and Japan and sparking national debates on care. They demonstrate that
ethics cannot be separated from practice -- an ethics of care that is
both political and critical must be grounded in the concrete activities
of real people working in transnational webs of social relations.

This timely volume offers a rare cross-national comparison of care
arrangements and national debates on the ethics of care in the context
of a globalizing world.

Caught in the trap of the nation-state and frozen in postwar bloc logic, critical political economy has been found wanting when it comes to problematizing space and scale. Globalization and the rise of world cities and regions have shaken the discipline's foundations and fostered new interest in the concept of scale. Leviathan Undone? brings together leading theorists and scholars from a variety of disciplines to develop a new language to understand the spatial restructuring that has accompanied globalization. By treating scale as the core concept of our time, these innovative, groundbreaking essays bring a new sensibility to classical and contemporary concerns in Canadian and international political economy.